IV

THE COMING OF THE NORMAN

1000-1087

In the beginning of the eleventh century the Normans were establishing themselves in Southern Italy, where they were preparing for their daring attack upon the Byzantine Empire, whose capital, Constantinople, was the trading centre of the ancient world. To men with such ambitions it must have been bitterness itself to see the trade of England passing through Scandinavian hands; but at first the sea-power of Normandy was not equal to the task of snatching England from the Danes. Canute began his reign by trying to conciliate his actual and potential enemies. In the first year of his reign he married Emma, the widow of Ethelred and daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy. The presence of his stepsons Alfred and Edward at the Norman Court was not resented. Like a later King of France, Canute thought London worth a mass, and became a Christian. The remarkable manner in which Canute could adapt himself to circumstances is illustrated by his atrocious murder of a brother-inlaw when the king was in his northern realm, and by his pious pilgrimage to Rome in the following year, 1026. In Rome Canute witnessed the coronation of

the first Franconian emperor, the Saxon line having ended with Henry the Saint.

Canute's brother-in-law Robert, who became Duke of Normandy in 1026, cultivated the friendliest relations with his neighbour, the Count of Flanders, and his overlord the King of France. In 1035 Canute died, shortly after the death of Duke Robert. Both were succeeded by sons born out of wedlock. William the Conqueror became Duke of Normandy and Harold Harefoot ascended the English throne. Harthacnut, the son of Canute and Emma, obtained the kingdom of Denmark. Thus the English again enjoyed an independent ruler.

Canute's successful reign was largely due to his minister, Earl Godwine, who by birth and marriage seems to have been connected with both Danes and Saxons. When Canute died, Godwine supported Harthacnut's claim to the crown of England; but he accepted Harold Harefoot, when the English chose him as king. The murder of Emma's son Alfred, when that prince imprudently crossed from Normandy to England, was supposed to have been contrived by Godwine. This murder was followed, in 1037, by Emma's expulsion from England. She sought the usual refuge for English exiles, Flanders, or, as it was then called, Baldwin's land. Two years later Harthacnut answered his mother's appeal, and was on the eve of invading England, when Harold Harefoot died. Harthacnut invited his half-brother Edward to share his throne. In 1042 "died Harthacnut as he stood at his drink, he suddenly fell to the earth with a terrible struggle.. And all the people then received

Edward for king, as was his natural right." The sudden deaths of two young kings, Harold and Harthacnut, fitted in with the Norman scheme. England was thus brought under the rule of a king who was half Norman by birth and wholly Norman by education.

Before the Normans could supplant Scandinavian influence in England it was necessary for them to secure the neutrality of Flanders in the inevitable war. With persistence, which overcame all obstacles, Duke William sought and finally obtained the hand of Matilda, daughter of the Flemish Count. A religious movement in Normandy, guided by Duke William, formed part of the scheme of conquest. The Norman bishops were chosen from the ducal family, and, like William's half-brother, Odo, were more at home on the field of battle than in their cathedrals. Monasteries were founded throughout Normandy. "A Norman noble of that age thought that his estate lacked its chief ornament if he failed to plant a colony of monks in some corner of his possessions." Freeman regarded these founders as often actuated by motives other than religious, since "many a man must have founded a religious house, not from any special devotion or any special liberality, but simply because it was the regular thing for a man in his position to do." Thus Norman dukes controlled their Church, while they gained the goodwill of the monastic party in England.

The condition of the papacy favoured the creation of a Norman Church under ducal control. In 1033 the Pope was a dissolute boy twelve years of age, and, at a

later date, there were three rival Popes. As the papacy emerged from this degradation it became involved in a desperate struggle with the Normans of Southern Italy. In 1053 the papal army was utterly defeated by the Normans at Civita Vecchia. Like his imperial predecessor, the Pope spent two days bewailing his lost legions, and then set to work to replace them by enlisting his conquerors in the service of Rome. The Italian Normans were confirmed in their possessions as vassals under the suzerainty of the Pope; and they turned their attention to the boundless wealth which awaited those who could conquer Constantinople and the Eastern Empire. The Cluniac Reformation had already produced the monk Hildebrand who was destined to restore the glory of Rome. Before Hildebrand became Pope Gregory VII. in 1073, his policy was being carried out by Pope Alexander II. The banner of William the Conqueror was blessed by Alexander, and the Conquest of England was the real First Crusade.

To ensure a successful invasion the Normans neglected no opportunity of creating disunion in England during the reign of Edward the Confessor. The central figure in this period of English history is not the weak king but Earl Godwine and, after the Earl's death in 1053, his eldest surviving son, Harold. During the early years of Edward's reign Godwine was in power; and such attention was paid to the navy "that no man had seen any greater force in the land." But Norman ecclesiastics followed Edward to England; among these the most prominent was Robert, Abbot of Jumièges, whom Edward appointed Bishop of

London. Since the production of wool, the chief export of England, was mainly in the hands of the monks, it is probable that Scandinavian traders suffered from this Norman ecclesiastical influence. About this time the Chronicle records the coming of hostile sailors from the north, who took "whatever they could find; and then went east to Baldwin's land and there sold what they had plundered."

In 1051 the Norman Bishop of London was made Archbishop of Canterbury; and foreigners began to treat the English as an already conquered race. Count Eustace of Boulogne quarrelled with the men of Kent when he was returning from a visit to King Edward. When Godwine refused to punish the Kentish men, whom he regarded as peculiarly his own folk, he and his sons were forced to take refuge in flight from England. Godwine's daughter, whom Edward had married, was sent to a nunnery; and for a while Norman influence reigned supreme.

Three interesting events occurred during this period of England's peaceful penetration by the Normans. In 1049" King Edward discharged nine ships from pay, and they went away ships and all; and five ships remained behind, and the King promised them twelve months' pay." Next year all the ships were discharged. This policy was so successful financially that in 1052 "King Edward abolished the military contribution which King Ethelred had before imposed; that was in the nine-and-thirtieth year after he had begun it. That tax distressed all the English nation during so long a space as is here above written." After Godwine's flight, "soon came Count William from